Toledo, vista desde el Castillo de San Servando

Toledo, vista desde el Castillo de San Servando 

Richard Ford, after 1833 

Watercolour 

The English traveller and author Richard Ford moved to Spain in October 1830 with his first wife Harriet Capel, on account of her ill health. They were based in Seville and Granada until October 1833. Richard travelled widely throughout the peninsula and recorded his impressions in letters, notebooks and sketches in pencil and ink. He never returned to Spain despite writing prolifically about the country for the next 20 years or more. 

This watercolour and the following one (4.7) were based on sketches made in November 1831 when both Richard and Harriet made a three-day excursion to Toledo from Madrid. But since Richard did not learn to paint in watercolour until after he had returned to England these two paintings cannot have taken their present form until after 1833. 

Both paintings show the Puente de Alcántara in Toledo, each from an opposing viewpoint. The bridge is Roman in origin and originally had three arches, reduced to two following reconstruction in the tenth century. It was rebuilt again during the reign of Alfonso el Sabio (1221-1284) when it acquired the tower at the west (City) end, and further modified at some time before 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. The eastern tower was replaced by the Baroque triumphal arch in 1721. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Puente de Alcántara had been the sole point of entry for pilgrims. 

This watercolour shows the city from the opposite bank of the river Tagus, looking towards the Alcázar from the medieval Castillo de San Servando (see 4.7). The dramatic sky may be a true reflection of the weather over Toledo in November 1831, but it is also strongly reminiscent of the glowering sky in El Greco’s View of Toledo in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was painted from the same bank of the river. 

Title: Toledo, vista desde el Castillo de San Servando. 

Author/Artist: Richard Ford (1796-1858, artist).  

Technique and Material: Watercolour on paper. 

Dimensions: 174 x 255 mm. 

Published: N/A 

Date: After 1833. 

Marks and Inscriptions: None. 

Institution: Ford Family Collection.